Twelve Days of Christmas: #6

Six Geese A Laying

Get Your Goose — But in a Humane Way

By Michael Leach

Six geese a laying — preferably in someone else’s yard. Wildlife-friendly gardens offer many pluses. But as the word wildlife suggests, nature’s creatures can be anything but cuddly cartoon characters. Fraternity toga parties have nothing on squirrels raiding the bird feeder. And don’t get us started on deer — despite their vital role in at least one Christmas tradition.

Pull up the welcome mat — A bit of landscape planning will cook the geese’s garden party. That’s one part of a three-pronged approach to dissuade geese recommended by the Humane Society of the United States.

Landscape changes include: limiting the amount of lawn, which is a favorite food; adding clumps of taller plantings to provide predator hiding places; maintaining stands of trees between water and grass to prevent geese from flying through; and using dense plantings along shorelines as a barrier between food and water.

Addling eggs (there’s a training manual for the proper approach) and humanely scaring the geese are the two other parts of the plan.

Find more help — Visit the Humane Society , where you’ll also find tips for managing Santa’s helpers and those raucous squirrels.